DURF

An adventure game for brave adventurers, by Emiel Boven.

The Game
A Game Master (GM) controls and describes the world to players who then describe how their
characters (PCs) act in the world.

Time
● Turn - 10 minutes in game.

● Round - 10 seconds in game.

Character Attributes
● Force - Physical strength and endurance.

● Finesse - Physical skill and dexterity.

● Will - Mental endurance and force of character.

● Wits - Cleverness and (social) awareness.

(Re)action Roll
When the success of an action or reaction is uncertain, a player rolls a d20 and adds the score from
their relevant attribute. A result over 15 is a success.

Buffs & Breaks

Some situations can give a PC Buffs and/or Breaks on their action roll. These cancel each other out,
so a PC can can have multiples of one type affecting a roll but never both types at the same time.
When making the action roll, for each Buff or Break the player rolls a d6 (in addition to the normal
d20).

If the d6s rolled are Buffs, the highest roll among them is added to the final result.

If the d6s are Breaks, the highest roll among them is subtracted from the final result

Luck
A Luck roll works similar to an action roll. Roll a d20, add the PC’s Luck with a result over 15 being a
success.

A Luck roll is made whenever the outcome of something is unclear and isn’t directly affected by a
PC’s actions, or when a player asks something about the world the GM has no clear answer to. You
could, for example, roll Luck to find out:
 ● If a PC knows anybody in town whom they could sell their stolen goods to.

● If the guard wakes up before the party can escape.

● Which PC gets hit by arrow fire while retreating.

Optional Rule: Luck Save

Instead of making a reaction roll of the most appropriate attribute, the GM and players could decide
to just use a Luck roll to determine a PC’s success when attempting to negate a negative effect. This
is perfectly fine, but would make it so that a PC’s chance to survive is a lot more dependent on their
luck than on their skill.

Load and Stress

Max Load dictates how many items a PC can carry and how much stress they can endure.

A PC’s Max Load is equal to 10 + their Force score.

Some actions and situations, like pushing the PC (see below), cause a PC to recieve stress points. If
all carried items and accumulated stress points combined are more than a PC’s Max Load, they are
stressed and gain Breaks equal to the difference when making any action roll.

Pushing a Character
Before making an action roll, players may choose to push their character to receive a Buff on their
roll. Each time they do so the PC receives a Stress point. A player may choose to push their character
multiple times on a single roll. PCs cannot be pushed when they are stressed.

Healing Stress
Spending a day resting in a safe location removes all stress.

Advancement
PCs gain a level when they have accumulated a total of 1000 XP. When gaining a level a PC’s hit dice
increase by 1 and they may choose one of the following:

● Increase one attribute by 1 point. No attribute can be increased above 8.

● Learn a spell.

Rewarding XP
At the end of each session the GM rewards each character XP based on the gold value of the non
magical treasure they brought back safely (1 GP = 1 XP), and 10 XP per Monster Hit Die of each
monster they defeated or outsmarted.
Optional Rule: Milestone XP

Alternatively the GM could reward each character XP depending on how much they achieved
during the session. For example:

● 250 XP for a low-risk accomplishment.

● 500 XP for a moderate-risk accomplishment.
● 750 XP for a high-risk accomplishment.

Combat
Combat is played in rounds of 10 seconds. Each round:

1. Establish combat order. Roll a d6 for each side to determine the combat order this round.
Sides with the same result act simultaneously.

2. Each side acts. When a character can act it may move around and take an action. This action
may be attacking, casting a spell, making a second move or any other action deemed
reasonable by the GM.

Attacking

When attacking, a PC must make a successful action roll (Force for melee attacks and Finesse for
ranged attacks). On a success they deal their weapon’s damage to their target.

If the d20 rolled a result of 20 the attack is a critical success and it deals double damage.

Dodging

When an NPC attacks a PC, instead of the DM making an action roll, the player being attacked must
make a Finesse roll to dodge the attack. If the roll fails the PC takes the damage noted for the NPC’s
attack.

If the d20 rolled a result of 1 the dodge is a critical failure and the PC takes double damage.

Damage & Armor

If a creature takes damage while they’re wearing armor, the damage is first subtracted from their
Armor points. If no Armor points remain a they take the remaining damage as wounds.

Hit Dice & Death

Each time a creature receives wounds they roll their Hit Dice (HD). Each HD is a d6. If the result is
less than or equal to the wounds they have accumulated the creature dies.

Healing

Spending a day resting in a safe location heals all wounds, removes all stress and repairs Armor.
Morale
NPCs have a Morale score. The GM should make a Morale roll when something manages to shock
the NPCs (they meet more resistance than expected, their leader is killed etc.).

To make a morale roll, roll 2d6. If the result is higher than the Morale of the NPCs they flee.

Spellcasting
To cast a spell the caster can’t be stressed, must have at least one hand free and must be able to
speak.

Casting a spell automatically succeeds, but the caster receives a stress point and must make a Wits
roll. Failing this roll results in a roll on the Blunder table to determine an unforeseen effect.

d20 Blunder Table

1. Caster is shrunk to a 10th of their current size for 2d6 turns.

2. A bushy field of poison ivy springs up around the caster.

3. A leaf sprouts from the top of the caster’s head.

4. The caster’s hands turn to slippery fish heads for 1d6 turns.

5. Caster forgets the names of their companions.

6. Caster becomes blinded for 1d6 turns

7. Caster cannot lie and thinks out loud until the next sunrise.

8. Caster and the target(s) of the spell switch places.

9. It starts raining sardines.

10. All footwear disappears in the area around the caster.

11. Caster strongly smells like roses for 1d6 days.

12. A small wooden outhouse materializes around the caster.

13. Doves keep flying out of the caster’s pockets, at random intervals, for an hour.

14. Caster gains 20 pounds. (Flip a coin to determine weight or wealth.)

15. A small gnome ringing a silver bell appears and starts shaming the caster.

16. Caster becomes mildly allergic to fur for 1d6 hours.

17. Gravity affecting the caster becomes reversed for 1d4 rounds.

18. Caster falls asleep.

19. All non magical weapons around the caster are turned into flowers.

20. Caster becomes under review by the Council of Numbers. A temporal scribe will follow them for
a week, silently taking notes.

Some Spells
If a spell description contains an X, swap that out for the caster’s Will score.

Players and DM’s are encouraged to come up with their own spells.

1. Demonic Servant - Summons a demon to complete a simple task. Disappears after a turn or when
it has finished its task.

2. Grasp of Yahzahar - Up to X creatures are grabbed by a shadowy hand and held in place for 1d3
rounds.

3. Healing Hand - Heals X wounds.

4. Bark Skin - Target’s skin grows a layer of bark. +X Armor for 1 turn.

5. Levitate - Up to X targets can levitate themselves for a turn.

6. Talk with Spirit - The caster can summon the spirit of remains near the caster to talk to for a
turn.

7. Weave Light - A visual illusion manifests itself at a place nearby or around a nearby object or
creature.

8. Swarm Form - Caster turns into a swarm of bugs, rats or bats for up to X turns.

9. Worm Ray - Target is turned into an arm-sized worm for X turns.

10. Displace - Willing target is teleported to a location nearby.

11. Truth Sight - Caster can see magical auras and invisible things.

12. Bolt - Throw X bolts of magical lightning, each bolt deals 1 damage.
Character Creation
1. For each attribute, roll 2d4 and note down the lowest result.

2. Roll a d6 to determine your Luck.

3. PCs starts with 1 Hit Die.

4. Note your Max Load (10 + your Force).

5. PCs start with 5 days of rations and a weapon of their choice. Roll twice on the Gear table and
once on the Armor to determine your starting gear.

6. Roll to determine your starting gold (2d6 x 5).

7. Name your character.

D20 Gear 20 Curio (Roll on Curio table)

1 Bedroll
2 Lantern + Oil
D6 Armor
1 No Armor + Spell (roll or choose)
3 Caltrops
2 Light Armor
4 Whistle
3 Light Armor + Shield
5 Crowbar
4 Medium Armor
6 Manacles
5 Medium Armor + Shield
7 Grappling Hook
6 Heavy Armor
8 6 Torches
9 Iron Spikes
10 Net D6 Curio
11 10’ Pole 1 Bomb 9 dmg in a small area.
12 Tent for 3 people 2 Eye Stone Grants night-vision.
13 Healing Tonic 3 Spiked Shield 1 dmg to the attacker.
14 Spyglass Dream Flute 3 dmg to sleeping creatures that
4 hear it.
15 Musical Instrument
5 Bottle of Bees As the name suggests.
16 Lockpicks
6 Serpent Scale Cloak +2 Armor.
17 Trap
18 Rope
19 Waterskin
Equipment
Costs are given in gold pounds (GP).

All items can be assumed to count once when calculating load, unless otherwise noted.

Arrows/Quarrels (20) 5
Weapons
Bullets (30) 3
Blowpipe, Sling, Dart, etc. 2
Black Powder (Enough for 30 shots) 35
2 dmg

Dagger, Club, Staff, etc. 4

Armor
3 dmg
Light (Leather, etc.)
Sword, Axe, Flail, etc. 10 3 Armor 20
4 dmg, +1 load Medium (Chain, etc.)
5 Armor, +1 load 40
Greatsword, Halberd, Warhammer, etc. 15
5 dmg, two hands, +2 load Heavy (Plate, etc.)
7 Armor, +2 load 60
Bow 35
Shield
3 dmg, two hands, +1 load
Grants a Buff when dodging. 10
Crossbow 30
4 dmg, two hands, +2 load

Pistol 60
5 dmg, round to reload, loud, +1 load

Ammunition

Adventuring Gear
Bedroll 5
Caltrops (Bag) 10
Chalk (10 pieces) 1
Crowbar 10
Face Paint (Pot) 2
Grappling Hook 25
Healing Tonic (Heals 4 wounds) 50
Iron Spikes (12) 1
Lantern (Requires oil) 10
Lockpicks 25
Manacles 10
Mirror 5
Musical Instrument 30
Net 10
Oil (Flask, 4 hrs. of light in lantern) 5
Pole (10’) 1
Rations (5 days) 5
Rope (50’) 5
Shovel 5
Sledgehammer 7
Spyglass 50
Tent (personal) 20
Tent (3 persons) 45
Torches (6, 1 hr. of light each) 1
Trap 5
Waterskin (½ a gallon of liquid) 2
Whistle 1
Enemies
Adversaries PCs can encounter are described using the following statistics:

● Armor - The amount of damage it can take before it starts rolling its Hit Dice.
● Hit Dice (HD) - The amount of d6s the GM should roll when the monster becomes wounded.
● Damage (Dmg) - The amount of damage the monster does when its attack isn’t dodged by a
PC.
● Morale (ML) - The monster’s odds of giving up during battle.

For more details on how to use these, see Combat.

Some Enemies
Here are some examples you can use in your game. You are encouraged to make up your own or to
borrow from games you like.

Flesh Orb of Zuld

An ancient sentient computer covered in a fleshy mass. It levitates around its lair and knows when
it is purposely being lied to. When threatened, it can shoot jolts of energy from its flesh-encased
circuitry.

Armor 4 HD 4 Dmg 4 ML 10

Boggle

Slippery frogmen who like to live in warm and wet climates. They are known to coat their weapons
in a paralyzing poison.

Armor 0 HD 1 Dmg 2 ML 8

● Slippery: PCs attacking or trying to restrain a boggle gain a Break on their roll.
● Paralyzing Poison: PCs who get wounded by a boggle must make a successful Force roll, or
become paralyzed for 1 turn.

Spellclaw

Small humanoid creatures with cracked obsidian skin, white pupils and long glass-like transparent
claws. Spellclaws are often found around places of magical power trying to find spells to absorb to
feed their hunger.

Armor 3 HD 2 Dmg 3 ML 7

● Absorb Magic: Spellclaws can’t be affected by magical effects and can drain the magic from
an item they touch, doing so grants them the powers of the drained item for a few days.
License and Acknowledgements
Written by Emiel Boven

DURF is made to be hacked, pulled apart and built on top of. It is licensed under Creative Commons
(CC BY-SA 4.0) so you can share and adapt this material for any purpose, as long as you give
attribution.

Special thanks to Hedwig Klamer

Inspirations Ben Milton’s Knave, Daniel Sell’s Troika!, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson’s Dungeons &
Dragons, Nate Treme’s Tunnel Goons and Robert J. Schwalb’s Shadow of the Demon Lord.